David W. Tonkyn

Professor

Contact Information

Education

Ph.D. Biology, Princeton University

A.M. Biology, Princeton University

A.B. Biology, Princeton University

Research Interests

As a population biologist, I have carried out field, laboratory and theoretical research on a variety of problems in ecology and conservation biology. My experimental work has focused on the ecology of plants, insects, plant-insect interactions, and even plant-insect-microbe interactions. My theoretical analyses have addressed problems in population dynamics, evolution, dispersal, and dispersion. I am always interested in linking these experimental and theoretical studies. My primary interests now are in two areas of conservation ecology. First, I am studying the interacting threats of genetic and demographic changes, and disease, to small (captive or endangered) populations. Second, I am studying the threats of climate change to selected species, particularly those of southern mountains which might be trapped by global climate change. In both areas, I seek to quantify the risks and to develop management responses that best reduce these risks.

My students have worked on a broad range of projects, mostly of their own choice. Recent studies include the phylogeography of a high-elevation endemic salamander, the influence of soil calcium on land snail diversity, the island biogeography of ground beetles, and the effects of climate change on a threatened butterfly.

Every year I take students to the northern Rocky Mountains of North America and to India, with other colleagues on the faculty, and I am very interested in students wishing to conduct field conservation studies in these areas.